At What Point Does Bullying Become Criminal?
Bullying is an epidemic taking place in school systems, social networking sites, and social circles worldwide. Of course the act of bullying has taken place for decades but people are now starting to take notice of the implications and effects it has on the new generation. With sites such as Facebook, bullying has escalated to a whole new level, spreading from school systems to all aspects of teenage life. The question is whether the state or federal government is responsible for enforcing laws to prevent bullying.
As we can see from different accounts in history, bullying has been around throughout the ages, but the Internet and technology have propelled it to a new level. Social networking makes it easy for bullies to strike secretly and sometimes anonymously. School bullying is no longer limited to school hours; through cyberspace, bullying can now occur 24 hours a day. Without any repercussions, bullies continue to feel free to pursue their victims at all hours of the day knowing their victims are too scared to complain or to report the abuse.
Media attention and newsworthy tragedies are bringing to light the need for repercussions. Currently individual states are responsible for bullying laws and there is no federal law against bullying; states have, however, been moved to action. Yet many civil rights organizations are against criminalizing school bullying and sending students to jail; they feel the responsibility should belong to the schools and those schools’ disciplinary actions, parental mediation, and public pressure are the solution. These groups feel that by putting pressure on the parents and having the bully and victim’s parents take part in mediation it would make a bigger impression on the children.
Much thought has to be given before implementing cyber-bullying laws. For example, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act “would make it a federal crime to send a communication intended to ‘coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to another person’”. As Texas US Representative Louie Gohmert points out, such laws can be dangerous because if a victim tries to fight back through the internet they become just as guilty of a crime in the eyes of federal law as the bully who started the problem.
As we can see from another related case, that of Phoebe Prince in Massachusetts, who also committed suicide as a result of bullying, and for which her tormenters were prosecuted, consistency in the law must be adhered to. At what point does bullying become criminal? Is it only after somebody kills him or herself, or is driven to kill others? In the Prince case two boys were charged with statutory rape but unless all boys at the school having sex with a minor are charged with statutory rape the law could be considered unfair.
The solutions to cyber bullying, which have been proven to work within schools include programs run by students and disciplinary punishments such as prohibiting bullies from participating in sports and all other school activities. These measures give the message that bullying will not be tolerated and teach the bully a lesson, as opposed to subjecting bullies to jail, which can have a devastating affect on the rest of their lives and their families. These measures attempt to teach the bullies a lesson through ostracizing rather than criminalizing.
By Anna Maria Nicosia